Top News:
BBC R&D:
The BBC plans to continue its Mastodon trial for at least six months and publish its work using ActivityPub, after gaining 60K followers on six trial accounts — In July 2023 we announced our plan to establish a BBC presence in the distributed collection of social networks known as the Fediverse …
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Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Walmart is in talks to buy smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2B+, as the company looks to bolster its advertising business in its battle with Amazon — Retail giant discussing a more than $2 billion deal that would boost its advertising business in battle with Amazon
Discussion:
Next in Media, Jeff Rauseo on LinkedIn, Engadget, The Streamable, Victor Elmann on LinkedIn, David J. Katz on LinkedIn, Christine Grammier on LinkedIn, Media Play News, @anshelsag, Timothy Edwards on LinkedIn, Variety, MediaPost, Digiday, Bloomberg, The Desk, The Information, LightShed Partners, The Verge, 9to5Google, Reuters and Ad Age
Bloomberg:
Court filings show that Soros Fund Management could become the biggest shareholder of Audacy when the radio and podcast company emerges from bankruptcy — - Fund owns more than $400 million of Audacy's first-lien debt — Radio company's restructuring would hand ownership to lenders
Discussion:
The Desk, New York Post, @buythecryptodip, @ashleyrcarman and @ashleycarman@threads.net
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Disney merges ABC News and local station operations under Debra OConnell; ABC News President Kim Godwin and Stations President Chad Matthews will report to her — Another major media company is merging its news division and its local stations in hopes of wringing new profits from two businesses …
Discussion:
The Wrap, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter
Sara Fischer / Axios:
An interview with Jimmy Finkelstein, who says The Messenger's model was working and the outlet would have been profitable by August 2024 if it had raised $20M — The Messenger CEO Jimmy Finkelstein told Axios he did not mislead a New York Times reporter about the company's revenue …
Discussion:
Poynter, Awful Announcing, @pressgazette, @jakewilkns, @mradamtaylor, @jimlaporta, @sarafischer, @coreypein.bsky.social and @tomgara
Committee to Protect Journalists:
Iranian authorities raided the newsroom of economic news site FardayeEghtesad on February 5, initially detaining 30 staff; four journalists are still detained — Washington, D.C., February 13, 2024—Iranian authorities must immediately release four journalists from the FardayeEghtesad news site …
Discussion:
Nieman Lab
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
In a letter to the WHCA, the White House expresses concern over media coverage of the Special Counsel's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified material — Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter. Sign up for the daily digest chronicling the evolving media landscape here.
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Times, The Hill, GB News, New York Post and Axios
Charlotte Klein / Vanity Fair:
David Leonhardt's views shaped NYT newsletter The Morning, which has 5M+ daily readers, leading to newsroom tension; others will share its lead column in 2024 — The New York Times' flagship newsletter is hugely popular with readers, a source of tension among some reporters, and …
Discussion:
@mlcalderone and @charlottetklein
Rick Porter / The Hollywood Reporter:
Jon Stewart's Daily Show return drew 930K viewers, the most for a Daily Show installment in almost six years; simulcasts brought the total to 1.85M viewers — Comedy Central records its most watched episode of the late night show since March 2018. — The reunion of Jon Stewart …
Discussion:
Associated Press, Barrett News Media, Axios, Liza Burnett Fefferman on LinkedIn, The Independent, The Wrap, Variety, UPROXX, The A.V. Club, @deanobeidallah@threads.net, @iamspoonbedner.bsky.social, @adamkotsko.bsky.social, @reallyseansmith.bsky.social, Rolling Stone, @bartholomewb.bsky.social, @bencollins.bsky.social, @sudsterkel.bsky.social, New York Times, MSNBC, @daviddarmofal.bsky.social, Next TV, @screamerjim.bsky.social, NPR, New Yorker, @emilystjams.bsky.social, Boing Boing and The Daily Beast
Natalie Korach / The Wrap:
As The Daily Beast put Confider on hiatus, weeks after editor at large Lachlan Cartwright left, sources say the media newsletter could instead be “dead” — “We decided to put Confider on hiatus after Lachlan Cartwright, who initiated it, departed The Daily Beast,” The Daily Beast editor in chief said in a statement
Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:
Mail publisher DMGT reports 2023 revenue up 2% YoY to £997M and a pre-tax loss of £12.6M, as a £63M growth in B2B events revenue offset consumer media decline — Print advertising revenue dropped by 16% in the year to 30 September 2023. — Mail publisher DMGT grew revenue …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and General Trust plc
Brian Steinberg / Variety:
Geraldo Rivera joins Nexstar Media's NewsNation as a correspondent at large; Rivera left Fox News in 2023 due to tensions with Greg Gutfeld — Geraldo Rivera, a longtime news correspondent and talk-show host with a knack for the theatrical, is taking up roots at a new outlet.
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